FAYETTEVILLE — The pressure for excellence in the Arkansas track and field programs of men's Coach Chris Bucknam and Women's Coach Lance Harter starts with that first get-your-feet-wet meet.
At last week's Arkansas Invitational, a low-key indoor season opener that included Texas Tech, Tulsa, Oral Roberts as Division 1 entrants plus some junior colleges, Arkansas men's sprints coach Doug Case entered two 4X400 relay teams, and neither was made up of the four quarter-milers thought to be the Hogs' fastest.
Just a check-everybody-out race, it seemed, but not to John Winn, a redshirt freshman from Bryant who anchored his first Razorbacks relay.
Winn told the monthly Razorbacks track luncheon Tuesday at Bordino's Restaurant the must-do pressure he felt when teammate Obi Igbokwe handed off ahead of second-place Texas Tech.
"Obie gave me the baton with such a big lead that for me to lose it I wouldn't be able to show my face around here," Winn said.
Obviously Winn won since he faced Tuesday's luncheon.
The meet, low key as it was, produced personal records from some of the athletes that Bucknam and Harter will count on to defend Arkansas' SEC Indoor team titles. Not to mention that it produced NCAA-leading marks by men's NCAA Indoor triple champion Clive Pullen and pole vaulting All-American twin-sisters Tori and Lexi Weeks of Cabot.
Lexi Weeks is the reigning NCAA Indoor and Outdoor champion.
The Razorbacks of Bucknam and Harter will experience Vanderbilt's new 300-meter indoor track this weekend. They will defend their SEC titles on the same track on Feb. 24 and 25.
Bucknam and Harter said it's especially important for their jumpers and vaulters to experience the facility's runways before their SEC meet.
Sports on 01/18/2017